2 | National News INDOCTRINATION | Religious leaders told to toe the line Uhuru warns clerics against luring youth into terrorism President says Kenyans have freedom of worship but should stick to preaching the word BY AGGREY MUTAMBO @agmutambo amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com AND BONIFACE MEENA @bmeena810 bmeena@ke.nationmedia.com youth into terrorism. In a speech punctuated with warn- P ings and promises yesterday, the President told a gathering of police chiefs and members of the county administration that no one would be allowed to take advantage of the freedom of worship to turn the youth into terrorists. “Kenya is a very tolerant society and those are some of the things I am very proud of. We have freedom to worship but I want to make one point very clear. “No religious institution, be it Chris- tian, Islam or Hindu, will be allowed to be used as a centre for recruiting or radicalising our youth. All of us are trying to fight youth unemployment; a problem that not only Muslims face but also every Kenyan. “We are a nation that respects all religions but under no circumstance should places of worship be used to radicalise and threaten the lives of our people,” he said. resident Kenyatta has warned religious leaders against using worship centres to recruit the Mr Kenyatta was launching a rapid results plan on security, through which the government expects to reduce crime in the next 100 days. Early this week, police in Mombasa raided the Masjid Mosque in which paraphernalia associated with Somali militants al-Shabaab was recovered. Security agencies suspect the cen- tre had been used to indoctrinate the youth to join the militants under the guise of madrassa. The mosque’s leaders deny this although a number of young men found there during the raid have OBJECTIVES What the plan seeks to change n Corruption: The police have ‘always’ been number one in this category. The plan seeks to change the image of the police, not as bribe takers but servants. n Terrorism: The police have been given a mandate to deal with threat. The government expects police to foil more terror plans. n Community policing: To tame insecurity in Nairobi and other major towns, there will be open hotlines for reporting crime. n Cattle-rustling: The police in conjunction with county leaders will work to reduce this. n Ethnic clashes: The police will be on hand to arrest the perpetrators. been charged in court. Through the plan launched yester- day, the government hopes to make the country safer and change the public attitude towards the police. The plan is to bring down crime by opening up communication between the public and the police. The famous 999 emergency line is now active and most police stations have hotlines. The government plans to lease another 1,200 vehicles for the police in addition to the 1,000 it hired last year. “My government pledged to keep this country safe and secure. Kenyans are in this context entitled to ask for a progress report on what we have done to fulfil the obligations we set for ourselves,” Mr Kenyatta told the gathering at Kenyatta InternationalConvention Centre, Nairobi. But it is the attitude of the public towards the police, corruption and the welfare of the police that Mr Kenyatta said would be most important in addressing the problem. For instance, he promised that the officers would start enjoying insurance from July. “I know as you do that the welfare and motivation of our men and women in uniform is equally vital. If they are to guard us to the best of their ability, we must also do our part. An insurance scheme for our officers will be established and I want to announce here that the scheme will be in place by July this year,” he announced. Police, currently, have neither life insurance nor medical cover despite being constantly in danger of losing their lives in the line of duty. Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo admitted that radicalisation and terrorism are becoming serious problems. SATURDAY NATION February 8, 2014 PHOTO | PSCU President Kenyatta takes pupils of Maxwell Adventist Preparatory School on a tour of State House, Nairobi yesterday. The pupils had accompanied Seventh Day Adventist church leaders who paid him a courtesy call. “We will fight all kinds of crime in the country. We are warning those taking advantage of our youth to recruit them into terrorism to desist,” he said. Editorial on Page 12 SMS ‘BREAKING NEWS’ to 20667 In your Kenya gets ready for commercial oil extraction resources have attained commercial thresholds, and that it was time the country started preparing infrastructure ahead of commercial production hopefully in three years. Read details of preparations being made as Kenya readies itself for oil extraction in Turkana. I estyle Tribute to Kenya’s brightest professor In 1965, the legendary headmaster Carey Francis told the Sunday Nation that David Wasawo was the brightest student to ever pass through Alliance High School. Forty-nine years later, Prof Wasawo’s death has brought to the fore the life and times of a pioneer, an inspiration and mentor to many academics. Read the glowing tributes to “the father of professors” and the great man’s last conversation with Lifestyle two weeks before his death. Only in the SUNDAY NATION. Don’t miss your copy n the first admission by the government, high ranking officials in the Energy ministry say that the country’s oil Tomorrow Has constitution achieved goals? The 2010 Constitution was presented as the panacea of Kenya’s problems, with Chapter 6 standing out as the ultimate guarantee of good governance and adherence to the rule of law. However, hardly four years after promulgation, the excesses that the new laws sought to cure persist, some in a more pronounced way. Has the new Constitution really achieved its critical objectives? Karangi says terrorists’ bodies are with the FBI BY NATION REPORTER Bodies of four people be- lieved to be the Westgate Mall attackers have been handed over to the US. The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) chief Julius Karangi said the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had the bodies but refused to divulge their location. He was speaking yesterday at a public review of the way the September 21 terror attack was handled. Gen Karangi said there were only four terrorists and they had all been killed during the rescue operation. “A media house was too happy to report that these fellows escaped that Saturday through a tunnel. Hear it from me; they were killed on Monday morning,” he said. It was the first time security agencies were coming out in the open on the fate of the attackers’ bodies. Although Gen Karangi and other government representatives admitted that there was confusion in handling the operation as well as flow of information, he was categorical that no single agency would handle such a matter alone even in future. “It is always a multi-agency operation and someone has to speak. Some of you have asked me why it took so long. I reply by asking how it long it usually takes,” he said. The September attack was the worst on Kenyan soil since the August 7, 1998 US embassy bombing. Seventy people were killed by unknown gunmen at Westgate. Somali al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility. They said it was in retaliation to KDF’s entry into Somalia. Gen Karangi spoke “a few things I consider responsible journalism” at the launch of a report by the Media Council of Kenya on how the attack was covered. The report admitted that some journalists breached their code of ethics by publishing or showing gory pictures.